Screenshot of Email Confirmation for Event (RSVPed on April 6th for event)
For my first event, I attended a virtual screening of the film “Alice Guy-Blaché: The Untold Story,” presented by the Slipstream feature at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Throughout this film, I enjoyed how technology intersected with art to create a unique introduction to the untold history of Guy-Blaché. Scenes of LA with computer coding graphics and flashing images of iconic films from Los Angeles unfolded in the introduction. The art forms of film and technology came together to tell this history of Alice Guy-Blaché.
Introduction within the film
One aspect of the film that really stuck with me is how Guy-Blaché was a woman who contributed extensively to the birth of cinema. In the early 20th century, women were often seen as secondary to their husbands across society. Blanche helps challenge this stereotypical notion. “Be Natural serves as a timely reminder that women have long struggled to be recognised as creative powerhouses” (Bridget Hanna 1). Guy-Blaché filmed and produced many diverse cinematic arts, using traditional filming technologies (e.g., early forms of cameras). The example of the camera as a device to film art illustrates an important intersection between science, technology, and art. In lecture, specifically part 1 of the Robotics + Art lecture series, we discussed the invention of the printing press and intersections between art, science, culture, and technology (Victoria Vesna 0:00-3:07). The advent of the camera and traditional cinema was pioneered by Guy-Blaché. Guy-Blaché produced these films decades before the advent of modern cinema and digital editing techniques. In the Robotics+Art lecture series, it was discussed how machinery and technology can lead to the creation of unique works of art only possible by using technology (i.e., cinema, graphic design, printing on a printing press). It is inspirational and impressive how Guy-Blaché used manual cameras (a new technology for the time) and unique techniques to film diverse, complex films with an intricate style. I also enjoyed seeing how Guy-Blaché explored complex and pertinent topics, such as: social class, the rights of workers, and gender roles throughout society.
Hand Tinted Style: a unique and beautiful style that Guy-Blaché uses in her films
Another aspect of this screening that stuck with me is how Alice Guy-Blaché greatly contributed to the birth of modern cinema and created complex, beautiful, unique works of art, yet, her name is seldom mentioned in the discussion of the history of film and television. The hand-tinted style that Guy-Blaché uses in her films is an example of her unique and artistic manner of producing film. Prior to this film, I had never heard the name Alice Guy-Blanche, despite taking multiple film and television and theater courses at UCLA, and growing up in Burbank, near the major American film studios. This illustrates how her immense talent was not recognized by society as a whole. It is up to society to recognize this true historical figure who helped pioneer the birth of cinema using science, technology, machinery, and art.
Works Cited
Green, Pamela B. and Vanessa R. Schwartz, directors. Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice
Guy-Blaché. Slipstream Virtual Screening: Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), 2022. Slipstream Virtual Screening: Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), https://viewslipstream.com/account/general/?updated=account. Accessed 10 Apr. 2022.
Green, Pamela B., and Vanessa R. Schwartz. “Examples of films by Alice Guy-Blache: The
Cabbage Fairy, Midwife to the Upper Class, and Madame’s Cravings in the Film ‘Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché’ (at 26:48 in Film).” Virtual Screening of the Film "Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché", Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) (Virtual Screening through Slipstream), Directed by Pamela B. Green and Vanessa R. Schwartz, Los Angeles, CA, 2022, https://viewslipstream.com/account/general/?updated=account. Accessed 10 Apr. 2022.
Green, Pamela B., and Vanessa R. Schwartz. “Hand Tinted Style in the Film ‘Be Natural: The
Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché’ (at 6:07 in Film).” Virtual Screening of the Film "Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché", Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) (Virtual Screening through Slipstream), Directed by Pamela B. Green and
Vanessa R. Schwartz, Los Angeles, CA, 2022, https://viewslipstream.com/account/general/?updated=account. Accessed 10 Apr. 2022.
Green, Pamela B., and Vanessa R. Schwartz. “Introduction Illustration to the Film ‘Be Natural:
The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché’ (at 8:37 in Film).” Virtual Screening of the Film "Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché", Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) (Virtual Screening through Slipstream), Directed by Pamela B. Green and Vanessa R. Schwartz, Los Angeles, CA, 2022, https://viewslipstream.com/account/general/?updated=account. Accessed 10 Apr. 2022.
Green, Pamela B., and Vanessa R. Schwartz. “Newspaper Article on Film by Solax Studios in the
Film ‘Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché’ (at 9:09 in Film).” Virtual Screening of the Film "Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché", Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) (Virtual Screening through Slipstream), Directed by Pamela B. Green and Vanessa R. Schwartz, Los Angeles, CA, 2022, https://viewslipstream.com/account/general/?updated=account. Accessed 10 Apr. 2022.
Email Confirmation for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's (LACMA's) Screening of "Be
Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché". 19 Apr. 2022.
Hanna, Bridget. “The Forgotten Legacy of the First Woman Filmmaker.” Medium, Medium, 15
Feb. 2020, https://medium.com/@BridgetJulie/the-forgotten-legacy-of-the-first-woman-filmmaker-89970a877fa5.
Rose, Steve. “Why Was Pioneering Director Alice Guy-Blaché Erased from History?” The
Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 20 Jan. 2020,
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Alice Guy-Blaché.” Encyclopædia Britannica,
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 20 Mar. 2022, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alice-Guy-Blache.
Vesna, Victoria. “Robotics+Art, Introductory Lecture.” Robotics+Art Lectures: Module 3:
Design and
Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course. Robotics+Art Lectures for Module 3 in the Design and Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 22 Apr. 2022, Los Angeles, California, https://bruinlearn.ucla.edu/courses/129896/pages/unit-3-view?module_item_id=4852504. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.
Vesna, Victoria. “Robotics+Art, Lecture 1.” Robotics+Art Lectures: Module 3: Design and
Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course. Robotics+Art Lectures for Module 3 in the Design and Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 22 Apr. 2022, Los Angeles, California, https://bruinlearn.ucla.edu/courses/129896/pages/unit-3-view?module_item_id=4852504. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.
Vesna, Victoria. “Robotics+Art, Lecture 2.” Robotics+Art Lectures: Module 3: Design and
Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course. Robotics+Art Lectures for Module 3 in the Design and Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 22 Apr. 2022, Los Angeles, California, https://bruinlearn.ucla.edu/courses/129896/pages/unit-3-view?module_item_id=4852504. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.
Vesna, Victoria. “Robotics+Art, Lecture 3.” Robotics+Art Lectures: Module 3: Design and
Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course. Robotics+Art Lectures for Module 3 in the Design and Media Arts (DESMA) 9 Course at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), 22 Apr. 2022, Los Angeles, California, https://bruinlearn.ucla.edu/courses/129896/pages/unit-3-view?module_item_id=4852504. Accessed 22 Apr. 2022.
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